


Best Buy

by celli



Category: Sports Night
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-04-02
Updated: 2006-04-02
Packaged: 2017-10-18 05:31:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/185547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celli/pseuds/celli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Is that the definition of family?  The people who love you anyway?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Best Buy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [laylee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/laylee/gifts).



> This one's for [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/laylee/profile)[**laylee**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/laylee/). Thanks to [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/barely_bean/profile)[**barely_bean**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/barely_bean/) for the beta.

Dan was a patient guy. Really, he was. But after Casey had picked up, looked at, and discarded _every single video game_ in Best Buy, the urge to throttle him was beginning to make itself felt.

"What was wrong with that one?"

"I don't know. Lisa has all these rules about games."

"You could call her and ask if she'd be okay with it."

Casey made a face. "I'd really rather not." He headed for the DVD section, and Dan groaned.

"If you're not sure what he wants, they do have gift certificates."

Casey looked at him as though he'd suggested hiring the boy a call girl. "He's my son, not some nephew twice removed. And it's his thirteenth birthday. It's got to be a good present. It has to be the perfect present."

"All right. Fine." Dan crumpled his to-do list and shoved it in his pocket. "Let's go."

***

Somewhere in between _My Left Foot_ and _North_ , Dan realized exactly what was prompting this outpouring of nitpicking. (Not that Casey wasn't maddeningly precise about things like this, anyway, but even for him this was extreme.)

"It's me, isn't it?"

"Hrm?" Casey asked, still flipping through a stack. Flip, flip, flipflipflip--

Dan closed his hand over Casey's. "You're obsessing about the perfect gift, and about making sure Lisa approves, because of...us."

Casey, true to form, checked to make sure no one was in earshot before responding. "I'm obsessing because Charlie's my only son, having his only thirteenth birthday, and he deserves a great gift."

Dan stared at him.

"All right, maybe I'd like to avoid The Wrath of Lisa on this particular issue...because we've had other problems lately."

Dan stared some more.

"And maybe I want to make sure Charlie likes his present, because I want to reassure myself that we're still the father-son pair we've always been."

Dan kept staring.

"Would you stop that? Can't I just go to a therapist like an ordinary neurotic person?"

"You know it's pointless, right? Charlie's going to love you and Lisa's going to hate you no matter what."

"While I appreciate your insight," Casey said in a voice that suggested nothing of the sort, "I would like to retain the illusion that my actions still have an impact on my family."

 _My family._ "Fine," Dan said, his jaw clenched so tight that it hurt. "You obviously don't need my help. I'll be--" he gestured vaguely. "Come get me when you've reached perfection."

***

Casey found him a few minutes later, reading a TiVo brochure as if it contained clues to the Orioles' spring training strategy. "Dan. Um. Hey. Dan?"

"What did you get for Charlie?" Dan asked, not looking up.

"Nothing yet. It's hard to look at movie titles when you're concentrating on the foot you just shoved in your mouth. Can I apologize here? Please?"

Dan flipped the brochure over and kept reading.

"Dan?"

Dan looked up.

Casey stuffed his hands in his pockets. "You have to understand that Lisa's not--"

"The source of all evil?"

"--entirely rational about this."

"Oh, I understand that."

"Dan."

"Casey--" Dan stopped, scrubbed a hand across the back of his neck, and took a deep breath. "I don't want you to ignore her entirely. Okay, okay, I do, but listen. She's not your family anymore. Remember? She's your ex-family."

Casey looked guilty.

"Charlie is your family, and let me repeat--he's going to love you anyway."

"Is that the definition of family? The people who love you anyway?"

"It should be."

Casey smiled at him, a little tentatively at first, then more strongly when Dan smiled back. "I get it."

"You get it?"

"I get it, Dan." He reached out and took the brochure from Dan's hand, running his fingers along the inside of Dan's palm. "Let's go get my kid a practically perfect present."

"Sounds great."


End file.
